A continuation of CKUW's morning radio show 'Better Than Chocolate' (voted People's Choice for Favourite Spoken Word Show in 2008) in which you'll find news about Winnipeg events.
Have a great day. How can you miss - you're in Winnipeg!

Join Susie in celebrating the launch of her newest novel The Thirteen!

The Witches of Eastwick meets Desperate Housewives in Susie Moloney's The Thirteen, her new and long-awaited novel.

Haven Woods is suburban heaven, a great place to raise a family. It's close to the city, quiet, with great schools and its own hospital right up the road. The crime rate is practically non-existent, unless you count the odd human sacrifice, dismemberment, animal attack, demon rape, and blood atonement.

When Paula Wittmore goes home to Haven Woods to care for a suddenly ailing mother, she brings her daughter and a pile of emotional baggage. She also brings the last chance for twelve of her mother's closest frenemies, who like to keep their numbers at thirteen. And her daughter, young, innocent, is a worthy gift to the darkness.

May 29, 2011

Ken Pinchin and the Mid-Century Modernaires with Patrick Boggs on bass, Jules Gravett on drums, Rob Pachol on guitar and Bill Western on pedal steel are celebrating the release of Ken's new CD Mid-Century Modern.

The stifling, reclusive Mennonite life of nineteen-year-old Irma Voth - newly married and newly deserted - is irrevocably changed when a film crew moves in to make a movie about the community.

She embraces the absurdity, creative passion and warmth of their world but her intractable and domineering father is determined to keep her from it at all costs. The confrontation between them sets her on an irrevocable path towards something that feels like freedom as she and her young sister, Aggie, wise beyond her teenage years, flee to the city, upheld only by their love for each other and their smart wit, even as they begin to understand the tragedy that has their family in its grip.

Miriam Toews is the author of four previous novels: Summer of My Amazing Luck; A Boy of Good Breeding, the Governor General Award-winning, Canada Reads-winning, much loved bestselling novel a Complicated Kindness, and most recently The Flying Troutmans, which won the Rogers Writers Trust Award for fiction.

The route is along Red River on Scotia Street, Kildonan Park to St. John's Park and back.

The 5 Km or 10 Km event offers participants a choice of running, walking, cycling or rollerblading in support of social justice and human rights locally and globally.

Run for Rights is organized by a coalition of 17 Winnipeg organizations working for human rights and social justice — including CanPalNet-Winnipeg. Note that there is no minimum donation or pledge amount required to participate.

Support the struggle for human rights by collecting pledges for or making a donation.

It is a grassroots solidarity organization, not associated with any political party, nor any particular religious or cultural community.

It is comprised of Winnipeggers, including Palestinians and Jews, who together, are committed to building a lasting and meaningful peace in Israel-Palestine.

In addition to sending delegates to the Occupied Territories to participate in International Solidarity Movement witnessing and human rights campaigns, CanPalNet has twice curated the "Canada Palestine Film Festival" at Winnipeg’s Cinematheque theatre.

If you would like a pledge form or more information, please contact Krishna Lalbiahrie:

After graduating from the University of Manitoba with a BFA with Honours, Cyrus Smith has been actively participating in numerous group shows at institutions including:

Gallery 1.1.1., Plug In ICA, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. His work has been published in Border Crossings Magazine, Toro Magazine, The National Post, and shown on CBC ‘Artspots’. Smith has been written about in The Globe and Mail and Maclean’s.

Smith is producing work at a hyper velocity in many different mediums including assemblage, painting, sculpture, photography, video, and performance.

Aesthetically, his work ranges from Post Formalism to Dumpster Pop.

Cyrus Smith works on a grand scale - first as a graffiti artist painting the brick walls and train cars of Winnipeg and now with acrylic on canvas. Sensitivity and generosity are fused with a cynical edge using libertarian socio-political concerns of contemporary Canadians.

He experiments with colour and form, fusing modernist aesthetics to pressing issues like genetic modification, global warming and war.

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Gurevich Fine Art is a gallery focusing on Canadian contemporary artists.

My First Lesbian Colouring Book: the importance of pop culture for a queer experience

with Lauren Hortie

MAWA, 611 Main St

Friday, June 3, 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm

Pop culture is something that surrounds us all, sometimes as invisible as wallpaper, and yet the images that we absorb without thinking can tell us much about our individual and collective fears, desires, motivations and concerns.

Lauren will explore the power of role models found in popular culture and their possible readings. She will also talk about queer visual culture, the power of visibility and the importance of creating imagery that represents the queer experience.

Lauren Hortie is an artist and educator based in Toronto. Her bodies of work include Sheroes, Gay & Night and the Lesbian Colouring Book 'zine series. Lauren takes inspiration for her work from queer culture and especially its nightlife. She moonlights as a DJ and organizer of popular Toronto parties, Steers & Queers and Trash.

Due to a growing interest for a Hoop Workshop in Winnipeg, I introduce Hoopin' N Movin', a 5 day workshop that will begin June 1 and continue to June 29, every Wednesday from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at 290 Mcdermott, 3rd floor in the Exchange District.

Entrance fee is $40 for the full month.

Hoops can be purchased for $30 each at the beginning of the first class.

There are only 10 spots available in this workshop.

Every skill level and everyone is welcome, whether you've been practicing in your basement for the last year or if this is your first time giving it a spin.

Everyone will have an opportunity to learn one-on-one as well as in a group setting.

A large open play area and jaming beats fill the vibe at the studio with occasional guest appearances from photographers to document the fun.

Hoopin' N Movin' is all about having fun, growing together, and learning new skills.

Paws in Motion is The WHS’s biggest fundraising event of the year. All pledges collected from the event go directly towards The WHS spay and neuter program.

Register for Paws in Motion via our website, raise between $350 and $599 and an awesome WHS beach bag is yours! It's vented on the top and has a built-in cooler on the bottom.

Ginny Lechman: 204-982-2044

Ginnyl@winnipeghumanesociety.ca

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The WHS is a non-profit organization that works to protect all animals from suffering and to promote their welfare and dignity. If you would like to make a donation, please visit The Winnipeg Humane Society.

Alex Janvier has mapped Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal engagement with the land.

The residuals of those encounters are expressed in his painting with fluid line, bold colour, and abstracted landscapes that are inspired by quillwork and bead design. Hidden in his diagrammatic paintings are symbols and overt expressions that affirm Aboriginal connection and rights to the land, and document colonial encroachment. How Janvier references the shifts in land and cross-cultural relationships is present in this component of Frontrunners.

Joseph Sanchez, juxtaposing Aboriginal philosophies, oral history and experience with modern “artspeak”, his performance character Indio Dali, who is opinionated and critical of current descriptions of fine art, will address ecology, acceptable aesthetics and art themes, and the role the Professional Native Indian Artists’ Inc. played in challenging hegemony in the Canadian art world.

Tickets are $20 in advance ($25 at the door) and are available at
Ticketmaster (1-800-745-3000), Winnipeg Film Group
The Winnipeg Folk Festival Music Store
Music Trader and the West End Cultural Centre

We offer you a fully Vegan, Organic and as often as possible Local grocery store.

Fresh produce is delivered throughout the week and inspected for quality daily.

We have a great local and organic tea section and bulk dry goods. Our aisles are jam packed with milk alternatives, organic nut butters, canned goods and sauce as well as cleaning supplies and everything else your kitchen could need.

We are dedicated to providing you with fresh and ethical foods for your home the same as we do in our cafe. The Deli also has many of the dressings and dips from our cafe.

Our super-friendly staff would love to provide you with recipes and advice on how to do everything up right.

As part of Asian Heritage Month, poet Roy Miki will read from his new book Mannequin Rising, a series of poems and photo collages that probe the internal effects of commodity culture,on Friday, May 27, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, at Aqua Books, 274 Garry Street.

Winnpeg writer Charlene Diehl will join him.

Roy Miki was born in Winnipeg after his family was part of the mass uprooting of Japanese Canadian during the 1940s. He lives in Vancouver.

He is the author of several books, including Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice.

His third book of poems, Surrender received the Governor General’s Award for Poetry.

He received the Order of Canada in 2006 and the Order of British Columbia in 2009.

Charlene Diehl is a writer, editor, performer, and the director of THIN AIR.

Her memoir, Out of Grief, Singing: A Memoir of Motherhood and Loss was

shortlisted for the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Non-Fiction Award and the

McNally Robinson Book of the Year.

Charlene has published a poetry collection, lamentations, and poems in literary journals and anthologies.

She co-edits dig! magazine, and writes the jazz column for The Winnipeg Review.

May 19, 2011

Aqua Books, 274 Garry Street, presents the Anthology Reading Series in conjunction with the Manitoba Writers' Guild on Wednesday, May 25, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

Sandra Birdsell lived for many years in Winnipeg. She is the author of eight works of fiction that have been nominated for the Giller Prize and longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Birdsell's most recent novel Waiting for Joe was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for Fiction and won the Saskatchewan Book Award for Fiction. She lives in Regina.

Valerie Reed was a member of the Riverview Writers Group whose members included Victor Enns, Armin Wiebe, Sandra Birdsell, Andris Taskans, Kate Bitney, and Smaro Kamboureli; this group dreamt up the MWG on Victor Enns' farm in 1981/82.

She published a long poem in A/Cross Sections: New Manitoba Writing, the 25th anniversary anthology put out by the MWG in 2007.

Sarah Klassen writes both poetry and fiction and also enjoys editing and mentoring in the writing community. Her latest publications are A Feast of Longing (stories) and A Curious Beatitude (poetry). Her work has appeared in the anthologies Pith & Wry and Tonguescrews and Testimonies.

Join Saskatchewan artists Underneath the Fray and Cathleen Lesperance as they perform on a short run of local Saskatchewan coffee houses to showcase their own original songs.

Also, to celebrate Canadian National Parks 100th Birthday in the month of May, they'll throw into the mix a slideshow of original photographs by Cathleen Lesperance featuring photos from Cape Breton Highlands in Nova Scotia to Nahanni National Park in the NWT.

Thursday, May 26 Regina Show starts at 8:00 pm

Java Express Coffee House

4114 Albert Street S.

Regina

Friday, May 27 Swift Current Show starts at 8:00 pm

Urban Ground Coffee House

167 Central Avenue N

Swift Current

Saturday, May 28 Saskatoon Show starts at 8:00 pm

Caffe Sola

38 23 Street East

Saskatoon

Admission by donation (suggested $10) at door.

CDs and original photographs will be available for sale.

****Coffee House for Camp

Amy's On Second Restaurant

2990 2nd Ave West

Prince Albert, SK

Sunday, May 29 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm

Coffee, Dessert and Musical Entertainment

Tickets $20 each (tax receipts for donations over $10)

ALL money raised goes towards sending local children to summer camp.

A recent recipient of a Saskatchewan Arts Board grant, Cathleen Lesperance will be sharing new songs from her recent self-directed residency in Banff. In the theme of summer, part of the evening will be original photographs from various Canadian National Parks to celebrate Parks Canada's 100th birthday.

Featuring a sneak peak of new songs from Cathleen's next album, set to be recorded in Halifax this summer. This will be her last show in the area for awhile.

This event is being organized by Elizabeth Moar and Sandy Scott as part of their annual fundraising drive to send over 100 children to camp each year.

May 18, 2011

As a prelude to this year's Alberta Literary Awards Gala, come out and raise your glass to the 2011 nominated authors at Calgary's exquisite 100 Wines, 1109 Olympic Way SE, on Tuesday, May 24, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

Readings and tapas will be served!

Shelf Life will be selling books and many of the shortlisted authors will be available for signings and one-on-one questions.

Featuring readings of the following shortlisted works:

• Jane Cawthorne – Weight

• Lee Kvern – The Matter of Sylvie

• Margaret Macpherson – A Thousand Years North of Dorothy

• David van Belle & Eric Rose – The Highest Step in the World

• Sheldon Casavant – Morton the Magician and his Magnificent Magic Show

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the Writers Guild of Alberta is the largest provincial writers’ organization in Canada, and was formed in 1980 to provide a meeting ground and collective voice for the writers of the province.

Its mission is to inspire, connect, support, encourage and promote writers and writing, to safeguard the freedom to write and to read, and to advocate for the well-being of writers.

For more information about An Afternoon with the Authors or to obtain a complete listing of authors short-listed for the Alberta Literary Awards, please contact

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Welcome to Winnipeg!

While I was born in Malta, raised in NY and lived in BC, Winnipeg is home.
I've co-hosted an award winning radio show.
I've been published in newspapers and literary anthologies and my plays have been produced.